Theodora Roosevelt Clarke (born 4 August 1985) is a British Conservative Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, England. It is located about south of Stoke-on-Trent, north of Wolverhampton, and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 71,673 at the 2021–2022 United Kingd ...

from 2019 to 2024. Prior to her political career, she worked in the arts industry and founded the campaign group Coalition for Global Prosperity.

Early life and career

Clarke grew up in the village of Bibury in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

. She is the daughter of Sir Tobias Clarke, 6th Baronet and his second wife Teresa de Chair, a daughter of Somerset de Chair. Her younger brother is former athlete Sir Lawrence Clarke, 7th Baronet. Clarke also has a younger sister, Augusta. She is the niece of the wife of the former

Business Secretary The secretary of state for business and trade (business secretary), is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Department for Business and Trade. The incumb ...

, Jacob Rees-Mogg. Clarke is a distant relative of US Presidents

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...

and

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

. She was privately educated at Downe House School in Newbury,

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

. She studied art history at

Newcastle University Newcastle University (legally the University of Newcastle upon Tyne) is a public research university based in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has overseas campuses in Singapore and Malaysia. The university is a red brick university and a mem ...

and the

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. The art collection is known particularly for ...

, specialising in Russian Art. Clarke worked for the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

in New York, and the British auction house

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

before founding ''Russian Art and Culture'', an online arts magazine in 2011. She was also a co-founder of the Association of Women in the Arts, and later founded the Coalition for Global Prosperity. As part of her work at the campaign group she volunteered in

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

in the aftermath of the Ebola outbreak. In February 2023, Channel 4's Dispatches reported Clarke went on an all expenses paid trip to Russia in 2012 as part of the Conservatives Friends of Russia group, organised by the Russian government of

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

Parliamentary career

Clarke contested the Bristol East seat at the

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and 2017 general elections as the Conservative Party candidate but was unsuccessful. The party selected her as the candidate for

on 26 September 2019. The incumbent Conservative MP Jeremy Lefroy had previously announced that he would be standing down at the next election. She was elected as Stafford's MP in the 2019 general election with a majority of 14,377 (28.1%), the largest in the constituency's history. Clarke joined the International Development Committee in March 2020 and the

Women and Equalities Committee The Women and Equalities Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was established following the 2015 general election to examine the expenditure, administration and policy of the Govern ...

in September 2020. On 5 October 2020, Clarke was appointed as the Prime Ministerial Trade Envoy to

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

. She helped implement the UK-Kenya Economic Partnership Agreement which continued the duty-free access to the UK market for Kenyan businesses after

Brexit Brexit (, a portmanteau of "Britain" and "Exit") was the Withdrawal from the European Union, withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU). Brexit officially took place at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February ...

. The agreement carried forward arrangements agreed by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

and the

East African Community The East African Community (EAC) is an intergovernmental organisation in East Africa. The EAC's membership consists of eight states: Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Federal Republic of Somalia, the Republics of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, S ...

. Clarke resigned this role in July 2022 in protest at Prime Minister

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (born 19 June 1964) is a British politician and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He wa ...

's leadership. Clarke endorsed

Penny Mordaunt Dame Penelope Mary "Penny" Mordaunt (; born 4 March 1973) is a British former Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who served as Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons from 2022 until 2024. She was the Memb ...

during the July 2022 Conservative Party leadership election. Clarke took maternity leave following the birth of her first child in August 2022. In February 2023, Clarke stated she was unable to be re-selected as Conservative candidate for Stafford, further stating she intended to appeal to local members in an attempt to stay on as candidate. In March 2023, Clarke was re-adopted as the Conservative candidate for Stafford having won the wider membership vote. In the 2024 general election, she lost her seat to

Leigh Ingham Leigh Ingham is a British Labour politician who has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stafford since 2024. Political career Ingham was elected as a Labour councillor on the South Gloucestershire council, representing the Kingswood ward b ...

from Labour.

Personal life

Clarke married Henry Coram-James, son of John Coram-James and The Countess of Harrowby (formerly Caroline Coram-James) and stepson of the Earl of Harrowby, on 14 August 2021 at the Church of St Mary, Bibury. In March 2022, she announced that the couple were expecting their first child. Their daughter was born in August 2022. In a speech to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

in October 2023, Clarke revealed she had been rushed into emergency surgery following the birth of her daughter, calling on the government to do more to help women who had been through "birth trauma".

Publications

*
Breaking the Taboo: Why we need to talk about birth trauma
' (Biteback Publishing, 2025)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Theo Living people UK MPs 2019–2024 Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Female members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Daughters of baronets 21st-century British women politicians Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Stafford 1985 births 21st-century English women politicians 21st-century English politicians Rees-Mogg family Roosevelt family Christie's people